Safaricom has today announced a major change to MPESA charges where they say they will be reduced upto 45% effective next year.
“As guided by the Central Bank of Kenya and taking into account the Principles on the pricing of mobile money services, we have taken the decision to reduce our MPESA tarrifs by upto 45% for lower value transaction bands,” the company said in the notice.
Safaricom says that these tariff reductions on MPESA charges will affect more than 90 percent of all customer transactions when sending money. For example, it will cost KES 6 to send between KES 101 and KES 500 down from KES 11 and sending between KES 1501 and KES 2500 will cost KES 22 down from KES 41.
The company says this is in consideration of the expiry of the period for zero rated MPESA transactions and ongoing COVID-19 and economic circumstances.
Here are the new MPESA charges that will be effective from January 1st 2020 and will remain permanent for the foreseeable future.
| MIN | MAX | TRANSFER TO MPESA USERS, POCHI LA BIASARA AND BUSINESS TILL TO CUSTOMER | TRANSFER TO OTHER REGISTERED MOBILE MONEY USERS | TRANSFER TO UNREGISTERED USERS | WIHTDRAW FROM MPESA AGENT |
| 1 | 49 | Free | Free | N/A | N/A |
| 50 | 100 | Free | Free | N/A | 10 |
| 101 | 500 | 6 | 6 | 45 | 27 |
| 501 | 1000 | 12 | 12 | 49 | 28 |
| 1,001 | 1,500 | 22 | 22 | 59 | 28 |
| 1,501 | 2,500 | 32 | 32 | 74 | 28 |
| 2,501 | 3,500 | 51 | 51 | 112 | 50 |
| 3,501 | 5,000 | 55 | 55 | 135 | 67 |
| 5,001 | 7,500 | 75 | 75 | 166 | 84 |
| 7,501 | 10,000 | 87 | 87 | 205 | 112 |
| 10,001 | 15,000 | 97 | 97 | 265 | 162 |
| 15,001 | 20,000 | 102 | 102 | 288 | 180 |
| 20,001 | 35,000 | 105 | 105 | 309 | 191 |
| 35.001 | 50,000 | 105 | 105 | N/A | 270 |
| 50,001 | 150,000 | 105 | 105 | N/A | 300 |
Just like it was mentioned below on the CBK directive, all transactions of KES 100 and below will remain free. Safaricom says that all MPESA customers will continue to enjoy free transactions between MPESA and bank accounts. They have also maintained the KES 300,000 limit to transact in a day and the KES 300,000 you can hold in your MPESA account that was brought forth this year as part of the COVID-19 related measures.
The company also mentions that the new reduced tariffs will also apply to transactions for micro-businesses under their new Pochi La Biashara service, and for Lipa Na MPESA businesses using the Transacting till to make payments.
